The economic crisis has increased the need for charitable giving, but at the same time it has decreased contributions to from foundations and individual givers. You might not believe it, but private business is one of the victims. We look at the current damage and what the future might hold. Also, the essays of George Orwell, an old voice for new times.

FROM THIS EPISODE

The economic crisis has increased the need for charitable giving,
but at the same time it has decreased contributions to from foundations
and individual givers. You might not believe it, but private business
is one of the victims. We look at the current damage and what the
future might hold. Also, a 20th century writer speaks to the 21st Century: a look at the essays of George Orwell.

President George H.W. Bush talked about "a thousand points of light," the nonprofit groups vital to the quality of life for millions of Americans. Those lights are dimming. In the economic downturn, 10 million workers have lost their jobs, and the number of unemployed is increasing by half a million a week. That means more people rely on help from the nonprofit sector, not just for culture and education, but for healthcare and food. Art museums, schools, health clinics and food banks are precariously short of money. Will foundations and individual donors augment their giving, or tighten their own belts? Barack Obama's fundraising success has been part of the problem. Will he help find the solution?

"Animal Farm" and "1984" are required reading for students of both British and American culture, but George Orwell was more an essayist than he was a novelist. Two volumes of his essays, Facing Unpleasant Facts and All Art is Propaganda, have just been published, and they have much of the same, punchy relevance today that they did 60 or 70 years ago. George Packer, author of The Assassins Gate: America in Iraq and a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine, edited the two-volume set.

Economic crisis means unemployment at a time when food prices are rising. The consequence is that 30 million Americans are on food stamps this month, surpassing the historic high set in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. That’s according to Jane Black in the Washington Post.